The Write News

Jay Leno to Headline White House Correspondents' Association Dinner

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST

CNN reports that Jay Leno will headline this year's White House Correspondents' Association dinner. The comes fresh off Leono's battle for the coveted Tonight Show job with Conan O'Brien and NBC.

Leno agreed earlier this month to appear at the event, before NBC announced his return to hosting "The Tonight Show," the group said. The network's move was prompted by affiliates protesting the poor ratings of Leno's prime-time show.

The comedian will share the stage with President Obama at the correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton. By tradition, presidents fire jokes at the news corps, political opponents and even themselves at the event, where politicians, journalists and celebrities rub elbows.

White House Correspondents' Association dinner will be held in May. The website for the dinner can be found here.

Photo: The Jay Leno Show

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NYTimes.com to Introduce Metered Plan

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST

The New York Times has announced plans to start charging for content on its website at nytimes.com. Users will be allowed to read an unknown number of articles for free each month. To read more articles users will have to pay a fee. Subscribers to the print version of the Times will get unlimited access to nytimes.com.

Starting in January 2011, a visitor to NYTimes.com will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free each month; to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the print newspaper, even those who subscribe only to the Sunday paper, will receive full access to the site without any additional charge.

Executives of The New York Times Company said they wanted to create a system that would have little effect on the millions of occasional visitors to the site, while trying to cash in on the loyalty of more devoted readers. But fundamental features of the plan have not yet been decided, including how much the paper will charge for online subscriptions or how many articles a reader will be allowed to see without paying.

The plan does not come without significant risks. The New York Times has become a world source for news because of the Internet and they risk losing significant traffic if regular users decided not to pay to use the website. If nytimes.com starts losing traffic than the company may have a more difficult time selling advertising.

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Editor & Publisher Returns Under New Ownership

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 15:00:00 EST

Editor & Publisher, a leading media industry news source, has returned under new ownership after being closed by Nielsen in December. Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. now owns E&P. Charles McKeown will continue as publisher and Mark Fitzgerald is E&P's new editor.

Charles "Chas" McKeown, who will continue as publisher of E&P, hailed the sale and the speed and professionalism with which McIntosh and Nielsen completed the transaction. "Everyone knew what was at stake here," McKeown said. "Newspapers, which are transforming beyond the printed page to all forms of digital media, simply could not lose the one place where the industry could have a conversation with itself and exchange ideas and best practices for navigating the uncertain waters ahead, exemplified by our Interactive Media Conference which includes cable, TV, radio and other media."

Duncan McIntosh Co. Inc. is the publisher of several well-respected boating magazines and newspapers, including Boating World magazine; Sea Magazine, America's Western Boating Magazine; The Log Newspaper; and FishRap. The company also produces the Newport Boat Show in the spring and the Lido Yacht Expo in the fall. Both shows are held in California.

Mark Fitzgerald, a 26-year veteran, was named as E&P's new editor. He had most recently served as E&P's editor-at-large.

Duncan McIntosh said he knew right away he wanted to buy E&P and keep it running. McIntosh said, "Such a critical information source for a newspaper industry so desperately in need of help should not go away. I've been a reader of E&P over the course of 30 years and know its incredible value to readers and advertisers."

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RBI Closes Video Business Magazine

Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST

Video Business, a home entertain business trade publication, has ceased publication. The January 4 issue was the magazine's last. Video Business says its publisher Reed Business Information (RBI) is in the process of divesting itself of itself of most of its business-to-business publications in the U.S.

Marcy Magiera, editor-in-chief and associate publisher of Video Business, said, "I'm extremely proud of the role VB has played in the home entertainment industry, consistently breaking news, while providing important analysis and insight to our readers for almost three decades. Every staff member and regular contributor here is a first-class business journalist, and I will miss working with this smart, dedicated and caring group of people."

BtoBonline.com reports that Reed Business Information also ceased publishing two other titles, Manufacturing Business Technology and Industrial Distribution. You can read more on the magazine closures at Folio.

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Washington Times Cuts Sports Section

Tue, 5 Jan 2010 18:00:00 EST

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Washington Times has cut its sports section and reduced its newsroom staff by 40%.

The newspaper will revamp to focus on politics, business and investigative reporting. The newspaper's Thursday edition announced the layoffs and said the last sports section would appear Friday. A new print edition will be launched Monday.

Among those let go was the newsroom leader, Managing Editor David Jones. The newspaper announced several management changes, though it's not clear who will oversee the newsroom operation. Christopher Dolan was appointed Wednesday as national politics editor and Brett Decker as editorial page editor.

The new cuts come in addition to job cuts in early December. The Washington Times sports section was printed for the last time on December 31st.

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Ashton Kutcher Relaunches Show on YouTube

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST

The CW quickly canceled Ashton Kutcher's model drama, The Beautiful Life, after just two shows. Ashton Kutcher isn't letting that stop his show. He is turning to YouTube to relaunch the show. Reuters reports that Kutcher believes the show can "find its legs on the Web."

"What we feel like we're doing is creating, in some ways, an industry first," Kutcher told Reuters. "A show that couldn't find its legs on television, we believe can find its legs on the Web."

Using his own production company, Kutcher created "The Beautiful Life" as a show that looked at the underside of the modeling industry, including its cut-throat competition.

YouTube and Kutcher are banking on the TV-level quality to attract viewers in a crowded Web landscape that has plenty of expensively made reruns, but not a lot of high-end original content.

Several episodes that never aired on tv will be aired on YouTube. Ashton Kutcher is hoping he will be able to land sponsors that will allow new web-only episodes of The Beautiful Life to be produced. It is interesting gamble. Ashton Kutcher also a huge Twitter following to help him drive traffic to the shows on YouTube. The YouTube channel can be found here.

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Washington Blade Publisher Shuts Down

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST

FishbowlDC reports that Window Media LLC, the nation's largest gay and lesbian newspaper publisher is closing down. Some of the newspapers they publish ininclude the Washington Blade, South Florida Blade & 411 Magazine, Genre Magazine and Southern Voice.

Politico is also confirming that the LGBT publisher is closing its doors. The closure announcement was also posted on the Washington Blade twitter account. The New York Times has also published a story about the publisher closing its doors.

Posted in ____

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100 Jobs Cut at the Guardian

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:00:00 EST

The Guardian reports that Guardian News and Media (GNM) are cutting 100 jobs at the Guardian. The Guardian's Thursday Technology print section will also be shuttered.

Staff in GNM commercial departments are due to be told about the impact of the latest cost cutting on their jobs by 9 December, while changes at editorial will take longer to complete because cuts are being managed through voluntary redundancies and redeployment. GNM publishes the Guardian, the Observer and the guardian.co.uk website network, which includes MediaGuardian.co.uk, and employs about 1,700 people.

GNM also revealed in the series of staff briefings today that the Guardian's Thursday Technology print section will cease publication at the end of the year.

Layoffs have been widespread and deep throughout the newspaper industry over the past several years. This year has been especially brutal thanks to a combination of internet competition and the recession.

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Hachette Filipacchi Media Closes Metropolitan Home and Pointclickhome.com

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:00:00 EST

Hachette Filipacchi Media is shuttering Metropolitan Home magazine. Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. will focus on its other home decor title, Elle Decor, instead. Hachette Filipacchi Media is even closing its home portal Pointclickhome.com.

The WSJ says data from the Publishers Information Bureau indicates ad pages for Metropolitan Home fell 33% in the first nine months of 2009. The December issue of Metropolitan Home will be its very last.

Other home magazines including Conde Nast's Domino and O at Home have also been closed recently because of diminished advertising revenues in the recession.

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TopTenReviews Acquires Space.com, LiveScience.com and Newsarama.com

Tue, 3 Nov 2009 15:00:00 EST

TopTenReviews has acquired the Consumer Media Division of Imaginova Inc., a privately held company based in New York City. Included in the acquisition are Space.com, LiveScience.com and Newsarama.com. TopTenReviews has established the TechMediaNetwork to incorporate these properties. Combined, 12.2 million people visit TechMediaNetwork sites each month.

"This acquisition expands TopTenReviews' coverage as a trusted technology adviser and strengthens the company as a source of technology news," said TopTenReviews founder and CEO Jerry Ropelato. "We see strong potential for growth in traffic and revenue as a result of the synergy between the sites."

PaidContent says TopTenReviews raised $6 million in 2008.

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Fortune Reduces Its Publishing Frequency

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:43:00 EST

Fortune magazine is reducing the number of issues it publishes annually from 25 to 18. Reuters reports that the business magazine may also cut staff.

Fortune, like many other U.S. business magazines, has struggled in the advertising downturn.

Fortune will publish two issues some months and just one issue during other months, in the new publishing schedule is part of a remodeling that is expected to result in staff cuts and a sharper focus on the long stories that have been its trademark, the Journal said.

The New York Times reports that the cuts are part of a new round of layoffs from magazine publisher Time Inc.

The changes are part of another round of budget cuts at Time Inc., the nation's largest magazine publisher. Some layoffs were expected by year's end, though the executive said the number had not yet been determined. The news was reported in Friday's Wall Street Journal.

Through September, ad pages across the magazine industry have fallen 27.3 percent this year, but business magazines fared much worse. Fortune, down 34.9 percent, was among the hardest hit, while its closest competitor, Forbes, was down 30.8 percent. Fortune's paid circulation, just over 850,000 in the first half of this year, has changed little in the last decade.

The Wall Street Journal story about the changes at Fortune says big changes are planned for Fortune.com. The WSJ article says the magazine is even considering charging for features like the Fortune 500.

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Newsday Starts Charging $5 Weekly Fee

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:00:00 EST

Newsday has announced that people who are not Optimum Online customers or Newsday customers will have to start paying a $5 weekly fee to access Newsday.com.

Those who are not customers of Optimum Online or the newspaper - both owned by Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. - will have to pay a $5 weekly fee. However, nonpaying customers will have access to some of newsday.com's information, including the home page, school closings, weather, obituaries, classified and entertainment listings. There also will be some limited access to Newsday stories.

Newsday described the move as one that would create a "pioneering Web model," combining the newspaper's newsgathering services with Cablevision's electronic distribution capabilities. About 75 percent of Long Island households are Newsday home delivery or Cablevision online customers or both, according to Newsday. Optimum Online customers total 2.5 million in the New York area, the paper said.

"We are excited about this model because in addition to a unique ability to immediately reach about 75 percent of Long Island households, we believe the hyper-local approach is right for Long Island," said Debby Krenek, Newsday managing editor and senior vice president/digital.

$5 a week is a lot to charge for online access. Even the Wall Street Journal doesn't charge that much for an annual online subscription. Dvorak says it amounts to $260 a year. Editor & Publisher says Newsday will "listen" to feedback and may tinker with what content is hidden behind the online newspaper's subsscription wall.

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New York Times Cutting 100 Newsroom Jobs

Mon, 19 Oct 2009 21:00:00 EST

The New York Times Media Decoder blog is reporting that the Times is cutting 100 newsroom jobs, about 8% of the total newsroom jobs. The job cuts will happen by the end of the year, which is not far away.

The program mirrors one carried out in the spring of 2008, when the paper erased 100 positions in its newsroom, though other jobs were created, so the net reduction was smaller. That round of cuts included some layoffs of journalists - about 15 to 20, though The Times would not disclose the actual figure - which was the first time in memory that had happened.

The paper has made much deeper reductions in other, non-newsroom departments, where layoffs have occurred several times. But the advertising drop that has pummeled the industry has forced cuts in the news operation as well. The newsroom already has lowered its budgets for freelancers and trimmed other expenses, and employees took a 5 percent pay cut for most of this year.

Media Decoder says the Times is mailing buyout packages to the entire newsroom staff on Thursday and employees have 45 days to decide whether to apply for it. A lot of newspapers and magazines are struggling right now because of the recession and the switch to from print to online news. It reduced advertising dollars from the recession came at a terrible time for the newspaper industry.

Reuters has published a memo about the job cuts from New York Times Executive Editor Bill Kelle here.

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Get Married Magazine Debuts

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:30:00 EST

Get Married Media has announced the launch of Get Married magazine, a new shopping and trend guide for brides. The wedding magazine includes editorial features on real brides, wedding professionals and experts, as well as an array of inspiring challenges, trend round-ups, product profiles, shopping guides and informative articles.

Get Married is giving the first issue of its magazine for free. Subsequent quarterly issues will be on newsstands beginning January 2010. Annual subscriptions (4 issues) are available at $14.96.

"Get Married magazine is as smart as it is fun, and the response has been tremendously positive from brides, advertisers and wedding professionals. By creating a user-friendly tool that offers choices and guidance on an array of the latest wedding products and trends, we make it easy for brides to simultaneously plan and shop," said Stacie Francombe, founder and president of Get Married Media. "Brides are smart, they are passionate, they like to discover, and they enjoy instant information, and Get Married magazine and getmarried.com afford them the luxury of immediate gratification - it's a girl's dream."

Get Married magazine is closely integrated with the Get Married TV show and GetMarried.com website, which offers brides an interactive experience, including a newly-launched wedding shop that sells products as seen in the magazine, as well as a wedding blog, video segments from the show, articles, image galleries and tools.

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Conde Nast Closes Several Publications

Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:00:00 EST

The big news in the magazine industry this week was Conde Nast's decision to shutter several publications. The publications being closed include Gourmet, Cookie, Elegant Bride and Modern Bride. 180 people at Conde Nast will lose jobs as a result of the titles closing.

The L.A. Times describes a sudden switch at glossy magazines form generous expense accounts to cutbacks and firings.

Generous expense accounts were de rigueur at glossy fashion and lifestyle magazines. Some top editors and publishers enjoyed clothing allowances and mortgage assistance. Even lowly assistants flitted about in chauffeur-driven town cars.

But that culture has been turned on its head as the magazine business reels from the battered economy, the drop in advertising revenue and restraints on expenses.

Conde Nast's unexpected closure Monday of venerable Gourmet and three other magazines underscored the swift and brutal fall of what had been one of the city's most elite and free-spending industries.

There have been reports that consulting firm McKinsey & Co. put Conde Nast publications through a brutal review. Even with the cuts and closed publications, Conde Nast may still have job cuts and other cost cutting in its future. Slate compares Conde Nast to General Motors. The Guardian says Conde Nast is slated to lose $1 billion in revenue this year. A publisher can't endure that kind of advertising setback without drastic cuts.

Meanwhile, Conde Nast is launching a dating site targeted at fashionistas. This does not seem like the type of project that will boost the company's revenues by much.

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New Large Format Pet Magazine Deubts

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 08:00:00 EST

Tame is a new large format, broad-spectrum pet magazine for the Southwest Area. The format of Tame is slightly larger than your standard magazine. Tame is conscious of the ever growing problem of abandoned and abused pets. It's staff is active in raising awareness and support for local animal charities. A portion of ad sales and subscriptions directly benefit animal rescue efforts.

Tame is a free quarterly publication. You can the website here.

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Ebony Magazine May Be Up For Sale

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:53:00 EST

Newsweek has a story that says Johson Publishing may put its flagship publication, Ebony, up for sale.

It's been a year of excruciating decisions for publishing companies-layoffs, pullbacks, closures. Now it appears Johnson Publishing's chairman and CEO, Linda Johnson Rice, has reached what must have been an agonizing decision: Johnson Publishing is seeking a buyer or investor for its flagship publication, Ebony, in an effort aimed at securing the survival of the nation's oldest magazine devoted to African-American life. It's unclear whether the company's other properties, including Jet, would be part of a possible sale.

According to media and investment executives familiar with the developments, Chicago-based Rice, the daughter of Ebony's legendary founder, the late John H. Johnson, has approached, among others, Time Inc., Viacom, and private investors that include buyout firms. Time Inc., the world's largest periodical publisher, already owns Essence, a monthly lifestyle, beauty, and fashion magazine for African-American women. Viacom, meanwhile, owns BET (Black Entertainment Television).

It's not a good environment to find a buyer or investor for a print magazine in this economy and in the the digital age. However, the strongest brands, like Ebony, should do the best. Ebony's website can be found at EbonyJet.com.

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Poll Finds Just 5% of Brits Would Pay For Online News

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 20:15:00 EST

A recent PCUK/Harris Poll found that just 5% of British news readers would pay for online news. 75% would immediately switch to an alternative free news source.

Someone should send the results to Rupert Murdoch since he really, really wants users to have to pay.

(via 901am)

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MSNBC Acquires EveryBlock

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EST

MSNBC.com has acquired a local news service called EveryBlock. The service is billed as a news feed for block. It lets users track nearby crimes, restaurant inspections, news and more by zip code.

"EveryBlock's talented team has a track record of innovation in the industry, and we're excited to add them to the msnbc.com brand family," Tillinghast said. "They've broken new ground with their unique approach to collecting, organizing and presenting news down to the block level. Their impact and importance in the community space is extremely valuable and carries promise for journalism and new business models."

"Joining with msnbc.com gives us the resources to turn EveryBlock from a cool, useful service into something much bigger," said Adrian Holovaty, founder of EveryBlock. Holovaty and the company's staff of five will remain based in Chicago.

EveryBlock's service is offered in about a dozen cities so far. MSNBC also acquired the social news website Newsvine in October 2007.

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